Thursday, January 5, 2012

Public Opinion on Healthcare Costs Reduction, pt.2


As shown in the previous post, US citizens are the most dissatisfied with their healthcare system among the four nations included in Harvard's study, with the prevalent number of almost 30% which are very dissatisfied (vs 3% in UK and 5% in Germany). Taking into account that US healthcare is the most innovative in the world, but at the same time the most expensive and the least cost-effective when compared with other top 18 developed nations, such data are not surprising and may indicate public awareness of the US healthcare system major problems. On the other hand, UK which has the best cost-effectiveness of the healthcare system, shows the highest proportion of those who are either fairly (44%) or very (24%) satisfied with the way it runs in their country. These numbers correspond to the level of confidence people have for the governments healthcare-related decisions (Americans don't trust them, whereas Britons rather do). The question is whether the two different degrees of credence attribute to the amount of satisfaction, or rather to the general social beliefs in central government decision-making and regulatory role (are Americans much more liberal, or even libertarian than Britons?).

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